Venezia & Associates

Venezia & Associates Focused on litigation We primarily handle cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that our legal fees are contingent on recovering money for our clients.

Many lawyers do this on personal injury and death claims. which we do as well. But, unlike most other lawyers, we offer contingent fees on many other types of cases. John Venezia has handled hundreds of property insurance, construction defect, civil rights, commercial collection, disability insurance, product liability, and other complex claims during his 20 years of experience. We are setup to sh

are the risk with our clients. When someone comes to our office having been injured in a rear-ended car wreck, it is fairly easy to determine that they have a case that we are willing to handle. This is not always the true with the more complicated matters. We usually have to evaluate those more and, frankly, they need to involve a larger amount of money. However, regardless of how complicate a case may be, if the amount involved and the facts are right, we are wiling to take the risk with our clients. So, if someone hs wrongfully injured you or killed a family member or if someone owes you alot of money, we have the experience and knowledge that can help. Mr. Venezia has tried over 100 cases involving many different areas of law. He is admitted to practice in all Louisian state courts, the United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He has been admitted pro hac vice on several occasions in Mississippi and Texas courts. He is a member of the Louisiana Association for Justice and has served as a lecturer for continuing education classes for attorneys and private investigators for many years. Phone: (504) 486-3910

Location: 757 St. Charles Ave., Suite 303, New Orleans, LA 70130

John A. Venezia is responsible for the content of this page.

08/28/2026

Splitting a referral fee on a handshake might feel like a simple, informal arrangement, especially between people who already know and trust each other. But once the deal closes and payment is expected, that informality can turn into a real legal problem if one side decides not to follow through.

Proving the terms of a verbal agreement often comes down to the evidence available, including text messages, emails, and the history of how the parties have worked together in the past. These disputes happen more often than people expect, but they can usually be avoided with clear documentation before the deal is finalized. If a business arrangement built on a verbal understanding has fallen apart, contact Venezia & Associates to discuss your options.

That post about your weekend hike could show up in your claim file before your attorney ever sees it.Insurance companies...
08/26/2026

That post about your weekend hike could show up in your claim file before your attorney ever sees it.

Insurance companies routinely review the social media accounts of people who have filed injury claims, looking for anything that appears inconsistent with the injuries being reported. A photo, check-in, or comment taken out of context can be used to suggest an injury is less serious than it actually is, even when that's not an accurate picture of someone's recovery. Posts don't need to be recent to cause problems; older photos and check-ins are sometimes used the same way if the timing gets misread.

Privacy settings offer some protection but are not a guarantee, since screenshots, mutual connections, and public posts can all still surface during a claim. This isn't about hiding anything; it's about understanding that anything posted publicly during an active claim can become part of the record.

What you post can be read very differently by an insurance adjuster than by your friends.

If you're navigating an active claim, it's worth being mindful of what's shared and letting the medical evidence tell the story.

You bid the job based on the plans. Then you broke ground and found something the plans never mentioned.A differing site...
08/24/2026

You bid the job based on the plans. Then you broke ground and found something the plans never mentioned.

A differing site conditions clause addresses what happens when actual conditions at a site, such as soil, utilities, contamination, or water, don't match what was represented in the contract documents. These clauses generally distinguish between two categories: conditions that differ materially from what was indicated, and conditions that are unusual and not reasonably anticipated for the type of work. Whether a contractor can recover the added cost and time often comes down to what the contract actually promised about site conditions, not just what turned out to be true in the ground.

Contractors who discover unexpected conditions need to stop, document what they found, and provide notice before continuing work in a way that could waive their claim. Owners, on the other hand, often argue the contractor should have caught the issue during a pre-bid site investigation or that the condition wasn't as different as claimed.

Unexpected doesn't automatically mean compensable. The contract terms decide who bears that risk.

If you're dealing with a situation like this, contact Venezia & Associates to discuss your options.
504-486-3910
Venezialaw.net

08/21/2026

You formed an LLC to separate your personal finances from your business, but a personal guarantee can quietly undo that protection. These clauses are commonly included in business loans, leases, and vendor contracts, and signing one means you are personally on the hook if the business cannot pay.

Many business owners sign personal guarantees without realizing the risk involved, especially when the language is buried in a larger agreement. If the business later defaults, creditors are legally permitted to go after personal assets rather than just business assets.

If you are facing this type of situation, or you are unsure whether an agreement you signed included a personal guarantee, contact Venezia & Associates at 504-486-3910 to understand your exposure.

Some business breakups aren't a clean split. Sometimes one owner is being frozen out of decisions, profits, or informati...
08/19/2026

Some business breakups aren't a clean split. Sometimes one owner is being frozen out of decisions, profits, or information entirely.

Minority owners in an LLC or closely held corporation can be excluded from meaningful decision-making even while still holding their ownership percentage on paper. This can look like being cut out of profit distributions, denied access to financial records, or having major decisions made without notice or a vote. Louisiana law provides remedies for this kind of oppression, including forced buyouts, judicial dissolution, or claims for breach of fiduciary duty against the controlling owners.

These disputes are often more complicated than a straightforward partnership split because the operating agreement, the company's financial history, and each owner's actual conduct all factor into the outcome. Valuing a minority stake is its own contested issue, since controlling owners and minority owners frequently disagree sharply on what the business is actually worth.

Being outvoted is not the same as having no rights. Ownership carries protections even when you're not in control.

If you're navigating something like this, it helps to understand your options before the relationship fully breaks down.

On public construction projects, you can't file a lien against government property, but that doesn't mean you're out of ...
08/17/2026

On public construction projects, you can't file a lien against government property, but that doesn't mean you're out of options.

Louisiana law prohibits liens on public property, so contractors and suppliers on public projects rely on payment bonds instead to secure their right to be paid. A payment bond is issued by a surety and guarantees payment to contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers if the general contractor fails to pay. Making a claim against a payment bond involves its own strict notice and filing deadlines, separate from the private-project lien rules many contractors are more familiar with.

Subcontractors and suppliers without a direct contract with the general contractor often have additional notice requirements before they can recover under the bond. Missing those requirements can mean losing bond rights entirely, even when the underlying non-payment claim is completely valid.

Public work and private work follow different rules for getting paid. Know which one applies to your project.

If you're dealing with a situation like this, contact Venezia & Associates to discuss your options.
504-486-3910
Venezialaw.net

08/14/2026

Losing an employee is difficult enough, but watching your clients leave with them raises a much bigger question. Is that competition fair, or is it something more serious? The answer usually comes down to the agreements that were, or were not, put in place when that employee was hired.

Non-solicitation clauses, non-compete provisions, and protections around trade secrets and confidential client information can all determine what a business owner is legally able to do in this situation. Without the right agreements on file, it can be difficult to stop a former employee from taking clients with them. If this is happening in your business, contact Venezia & Associates to evaluate your legal options.

In many injury claims, you can be required to see a doctor chosen and paid for by the insurance company, and that doctor...
08/12/2026

In many injury claims, you can be required to see a doctor chosen and paid for by the insurance company, and that doctor isn't your doctor.

Once a claim moves into litigation, the defense is often entitled to have the injured person examined by a physician of their own choosing, commonly called an independent medical examination or IME. That label is misleading, since the examining physician is selected and paid by the insurance company, not by the injured person, and is typically retained to generate an opinion the defense can use. The exam is usually brief, sometimes just a matter of minutes, which is often a sharp contrast to months of treatment with a treating physician.

Results from these exams frequently conflict with the treating physician's findings, and that conflict becomes a central issue the insurance company uses to dispute the severity of the injury. People going into one of these exams often don't realize they have rights, including limits on what the exam can involve.

That exam isn't a formality. It's evidence being built for the other side.

If you're facing something like this, understanding your rights beforehand can make a real difference in how it plays out.

You formed an LLC to separate your personal assets from the business. That separation can disappear if you're not carefu...
08/10/2026

You formed an LLC to separate your personal assets from the business. That separation can disappear if you're not careful.

An LLC or corporation is supposed to shield an owner's personal assets from business debts and lawsuits, but that protection is not automatic or absolute. Courts can "pierce the corporate veil" when an owner mixes personal and business finances, fails to follow basic corporate formalities, or uses the entity to avoid an existing obligation. Once that happens, creditors and plaintiffs can pursue an owner's personal bank accounts, home, and other assets, not just the business itself.

The behaviors that create this risk are often simple things: paying personal bills from a business account, skipping annual filings, or undercapitalizing the company from the start. This issue tends to surface at the worst possible time, when a business is already being sued and the plaintiff's attorney starts looking for a way around the entity protection.

An LLC is a shield only if it's maintained like one.

If you're dealing with a situation like this, contact Venezia & Associates to discuss your options.
504-486-3910
Venezialaw.net

A storm delay isn't automatically a free pass. Your contract decides that, not the weather.Every contractor and property...
08/05/2026

A storm delay isn't automatically a free pass. Your contract decides that, not the weather.

Every contractor and property owner in Louisiana expects weather delays during hurricane season, but few read the contract language that actually governs them. Most construction contracts include a force majeure clause, and that clause typically requires written notice within a specific number of days after the delay-causing event. Miss that notice window, and a legitimate weather delay can turn into a breach of contract claim against you instead of a valid excuse.

Force majeure provisions also vary widely in what they cover, from named storms to general "acts of God" language, and in whether they excuse cost overruns or only time. Some contracts require the delayed party to prove the storm actually impacted the critical path of the project, not just that bad weather occurred somewhere nearby.

The storm doesn't decide who's protected. The contract language does.

If you're facing a situation like this, it's worth having someone review the language before assumptions turn into disputes.

Address

650 Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA
70130

Telephone

+15044863910

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